On television this week there was a lot of time talking about the late Tim Russert, and deservingly so. One of the aspects of what made Tim so great professionally was his discipline of preparation.

Through practicing such preparation the zen of "the zone" can be achieved on a regular basis... at least that is how I have found it to work for me. Procrastination often yeilds the opposite affect.

This preparation includes continuously studying and perfecting the basics of your skill sets, exploring new approaches to common problems, discussion with your peers about their experiences, applying strategic and architectural thought to the project at hand prior to beginning the work, and simply starting as early as possible rather than procrastinate.